Screenhead

The second Where The Wild Things Are movie trailer is brilliant.  The Wild Things have voices now! I hear the voices of James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O’Hara and Lauren Ambrose.  The music is flows so nice, like magic and I  just love this little boy played by Max Records.  I wish I could be King, or even Queen for that matter, and run, play and frolic with the Wild Things!

It’s an adventure movie of a young boy named Max who, after being sent to bed for misbehaving (I remember those days), imagines that he sails away to where the Wild Things are. Max is loved by the wild creatures who make him their King, though he soon longs to be back home with his family.

Popularity: unranked [?]

So pretty much every Neil Gaiman fan on the face of the earth was looking forward to this one, even if all he had to do with it was writing the original novel on which Coraline was based.

This one is all about the little girl who’s been named in the title–Coraline.  Coraline’s got two very busy parents, and as so often happens, usually without intent, Coraline grows to feel ignored by her parents, who are, as most parents know, constantly neck-deep in work.  Thus, when Coraline finds a door to another universe located in her own house, she’s pretty eager to plunge into it.  The universe she finds is a lot like our own, only much, much better, with lots of excitement and interesting things happening and people who are actually happy to see her, or at least more inclined to act like it.  But as is generally the case with anything Neil Gaiman comes in contact with, just because it looks like a fantastic netherworld into the depths of a greater universe than our own, doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t actually containing some really nasty unnamed–or possibly unnamable–horrors.

The absolute unsettling beauty of this movie is just amazing.  The figures are all realistic, but without trending toward that “uncanny valley” tendency that would elevate this from unsettling to creepy. The background music is even better, alternating between the soft and gentle to the upbeat and jazzy, with occasional forays into the dark and foreboding.  I don’t ordinarily comment on a movie’s soundtrack, but when it’s as perfect as this one is, it requires some special attention.

Even better, the backgrounds they’re set in are perfect for each character.  Seems like everybody in this movie is insane for any of a variety of reasons, with only the possible exception of our heroine Coraline.  And frankly, the fact that she’s the only one experiencing this “other world” casts serious doubt on the whole thing.

A special note–even the Michigan lore aspect of Coraline is quite real.  When Coraline’s friends refer to her as a “troll” and a “loper”, those are both ACCURATE names.  A “troll” in Michigan is a person who comes from below the Mackinac Bridge, or the LOwer PEninsula, which explains “loper”

The thing that you really need to be aware of with Coraline is that, despite the fact that it’s rated PG, it’s really quite a bit too dark for the younger set.  Seriously–I wouldn’t let anyone under the age of at LEAST eight watch this movie without severe threat of nightmares.  But past that point, you’re likely in for a really rousing family adventure with lots of fun and some amazing sights.  I’m actually really pleased at how this turned out.  It’s got plenty of thrills and a little action packed into this clearly family fare.

Granted, it’s not one for the littler kids, but anyone from probably about eight on up (and don’t think that this is just for kids, either–it’s a solid story with lots of good surprises packed into it and some absolutely beautiful visuals.  Coraline pulls down a full nine out of ten on the Screenhead Ten Scale, mostly because it misses its target market by just a little bit, and not everyone in its upper audience is going to enjoy a–let’s face it–cartoon.  But still, for those willing to try, Coraline will be a fantastic adventure, in every sense.

Popularity: 1% [?]

When I first saw a copy of Into the Blue 2 on video store shelves, I thought someone at my friendly neighborhood video store was having a good laugh at my expense.  Someone with some sweet Photoshop skills and a wild imagination whomped up a cheesy premise and told us a really unpleasant story.

But no…it really exists.  And it may well represent the most desperate excursion MGM has ever put on to date.  So desperate, in fact, that it will actually put on a wet t-shirt contest with only a half-hour into the movie, and you know that’s pretty desperate.

Anyway, this time we’re off to Hawaii, to hunt up a missing piece of Saddam Hussein’s lost fortune, while pretending to look for the wreck of the San Cristobal, a massive Spanish treasure ship that was on its way to the Philippines when it went down.  Featuring a pair of pretty much unknown actors as young divemasters up to their necks in hock, they’ll take on the quest to find Saddam’s lost fortune in the guise of the San Cristobal.

And here I thought Spanish treasure ships were exclusively the province of the Caribbean.  But the folks after the containers comprising the sixty million dollars of Saddam’s lost fortune are on a deadline—figuratively, and literally.  If they can’t find the containers within just a few days, they’re both dead.  And so are the two young divemasters they’ve engaged.

Okay, this sucker’s eye candy of the highest sort.  Constant beautiful views will appear for us, including hot chicks for the guys, hot guys for the chicks, and of course, the sheer beauty that is the underwater scenery, in both daylight and at night.  I think it’s possible that the underwater shots may be even MORE stunning at night.  Sadly, we won’t get to see any huge piles of gold or similar treasure in this one, probably owing to the low budget, but it would have been nice.  Like I said before, they actually included a wet t-shirt contest in this one, which is a sign of truest desperation.  They really went all out to pander on this one in one way or another—action buffs, adventure buffs, there’s even some romance in here to make this one shoot for date movie ranking.    Things like character development and even coherent plotting aren’t really in attendance here, but there’s actually a chance you might not notice.  There’s just too much else to look at to notice that things that make a good movie really aren’t here.

This movie is just one big distraction.  That’s all it is—just ninety minutes of “Hey! Hey! Over here! Look at this!” Is this what attention deficit disorder feels like? Oh, and special note to anyone reading this in Great Britain–this’ll hit theatres over there August 2.  And to my crew in Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy and Australia–you’ll get this in late summer or early fall of 2009, so probably sooner than you think.  A big screen might actually be good for this one, because you’ll get to see the pretty in even greater detail.

But anyway, there’s a lot to enjoy here, even if it’s not exactly the most substantial of movies.  It’s a cheap little distraction, and chances are you’ll enjoy it if for no other reason than it’s just so very pretty.  It’s not much of a movie, let’s be honest, but it’s not necessarily a bad movie for the lack of any substance.  Cotton candy has its place too, and Into the Blue 2 is exactly that.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I admit that I didn’t have a whole lot of hope going in to The Tale of Despereaux, a strange little fairy tale involving mice that were entirely too brave for their own good, and royalty whose headgear featured spoons in mass quantities, and needles used as swords.

And yet, when I settled in to watch it, and watched this impressive little animated story that was almost nominated for an Oscar unfold, I was just amazed by it, especially by how it managed to keep so many disparate plot threads straight at once.

What do I mean, you wonder?  Simple—there’s a LOT going on in this plot, and it truly is a wonder how they managed to keep it all together.  For instance, a rat manages to inadvertently kill the queen of the land of Dor, a land whose specialty is soup.  Dorians love soup.  It’s their primary industry, conversation topic, commercial product AND art form.  Their royalty has soup spoons featured prominently in their crowns.  Anyway, as a result of this accidental death, the king of Dor declares both soup AND rats to be illegal, as he blames both for killing his wife.  The land goes gray and bleak, and enters a multiple-year drought.  Meanwhile, the mice, whose primary export, import, ideology and entire way of life appears to revolve around fear, are hiding out in the walls, as is normal for mice.  One mouse, Despereaux, isn’t satisfied with this life, and is thus thrown out of the mouse world to live with the rats.  And thus, a quest is born for both Despereaux and the rat that accidentally killed a queen.

There’s actually more to the plot than this—doing a complete synopsis would actually take a lot more room, because like I said, there’s a LOT going on in here.  And at first, it will actually seem like they’re jumping around from plot point to plot point with little or no regard for coherence.  It’ll seem like that because that’s exactly what they’re doing, but it won’t take long for the whole thing to coalesce into a greater whole.  It’s almost like watching a loom or something, where all these threads come together while you watch, and out the other side pops this greater whole.  How does this happen?  I’m not sure.  But I’m sure that I like it, and that’s strange enough.

There’s plenty of great voice acting in here—both Christopher Lloyd and William H. Macy show up in this, and on my own personal scale, that makes this a movie on par with Mongolian barbecue and Harry Turtledove novels.  It’s just that awesome.  And the graphics are plenty pretty in their own way; sure, it’s not like these are realistic portrayals of mice and rats and such, but if mice and rats and such ever built their own civilizations, they would probably look a lot like this.

For the kids out there, they are going to absolutely love this.  But this isn’t just a movie for kids, no sir—this one’s a movie that just about everybody can get a piece of.  Doesn’t really matter if you’re young or old, innocent or jaded, lover of fairy tales or raging horror-movie buff, you will find something to like about this movie.  The Tale of Despereaux will keep you riveted until its fairly predictable but still rather heartwarming end.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Inkheart may well be the greatest public service advertisement ever released for literacy.

Seriously, in terms of getting kids interested in reading, there’s not going to be anything better than this adventure title.  Ever.  But will it make a good movie for anyone else?  Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

Inkheart, based on a novel series that spans three books and is actually in stores now, is about a seemingly average guy, with the unlikely career of book doctor.  For those of you who don’t know, book doctors take antique books and restore them to the best condition possible.  So it’s especially fitting that our seemingly average book doctor has a special gift.  He’s called a silvertongue, or the kind of person who can read a book aloud and bring whatever he read about into our world, living and breathing, where applicable.  Inkheart will go to great pains to show how incredibly specific this gift can get, including bringing out gold from the Forty Thieves’ treasure cave and Huckleberry Finn’s raft.

Anyway, our seemingly average silvertongued book doctor discovered his gift when he inadvertently brought a legion of bad guys from the book Inkheart into the real world and in the process lost his wife INTO the book.  Now he’s trying to get his wife back while dodging the bad guys, who are all desperate to bring one MORE character out of the book, the monstrous amorphous titan known as The Shadow who answers only to the leader of the villains of Inkheart.

If you’ve got a kid at home who isn’t THOROUGHLY convinced of the value of reading, take him or her to see Inkheart.  Like YESTERDAY.  This is almost GUARANTEED to get anyone under the age of ten frantically searching books looking for something interesting to bring into the real world.    Meanwhile, it’s also plenty of entertainment for everybody else, who’ll get to see a tautly plotted, action-packed masterwork lead by none other than Brendan Fraser, who’s still an amazing actor.  In fact, so much so that the book’s original author actually said she wrote the role specifically FOR Fraser.

Special mention needs to be made for The Shadow, a work of CG so thoroughly capable and well-executed that it’s almost downright believable.  Watching a hundred foot tall titan made of smoke ravage a castle is almost breathtaking in its intensity.  And The Shadow, frankly, is only the beginning of the great effects work.  Fire is the order of the day on the Inkheart set, and it’ll be flashing and jetting and burning around like half the print itself is on fire.  I haven’t seen this much fire in a movie since the last time I saw Clive Barker.

Even better is the movie’s pacing.  There are very few dull moments in Inkheart, adding up to a movie that will catch AND hold attention, a relative rarity for a Hollywood title.

And, just in case this wasn’t sufficient awesome for you, remember there are two other books in the series, thus the likelihood that there will be sequels.  Assuming, of course, you get out there and see Inkheart, which naturally, I’m recommending you do and in rapid fashion.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I have to admit, when I got my hands on a copy of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, I was eyeing it like a dubious fish that someone set in my hands and requested I add to the soup.  No, no…this wouldn’t do at all.  They changed the Evey O’Connell.  Alex was a major character.  There wasn’t even REALLY a Mummy in this one.  And where’s Egypt?  Where’s Imhotep?  Nope, nope…not having this.  This is a slap in the face of established canon.  This is…this is actually not half bad.

That was about what it was like for me, watching this new Mummy installment.

This time, the O’Connells, along with college-age ne’er-do-well son Alex are off to China.  The elder O’Connells are there at the behest of the British government to return a priceless artifact, while Alex is there to oversee the museum opening of his first major archaeological find–the Dragon Emperor.  But a set of doublecrosses later brings the legendary Dragon Emperor back to life, and poises him to pick up where he left off, ready to conquer the world.  Now it’s up to all the O’Connells, and some new allies, to settle a brand new “mummy”s hash permanently.

A special advance heads-up on this one: purists WILL be offended.

I’m sorry, there’s just no better way to put it than that.  This is not the Mummy series you’ve come to know and love.  There’s a new Evey, like I said. Maria Bello, however, will handle the job just as ably as her predecessor.   Everything I’ve already said is fully applicable.  But it’s not all doom and gloom–Brendan Fraser is still a top-notch adventurer, and his son is definitely no slouch either.  Even Jonathan will be back with the team, and providing the comic relief we’re all used to.  There are even some improvements, and plenty of action and comedy and thrills to go around. For instance, there’s a great scene involving a truck full of fireworks in the middle of a Chinese new year celebration that’s just jaw-dropping.
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Popularity: 1% [?]

See a behind the scenes clip featuring the making of The Scorpion King 2.  You’ll see how much work goes into one scene.  With all this work, it’s interesting that it’s a direct to DVD release, going on the shelves August 19, 2008. 

Popularity: 1% [?]